Caesar Roasted Red Potatoes

It's JULY! Luke will be 5 months in a few days....wow. 

We have been staying busy doing library programs, story times and vacation Bible schools. Cooper has done 3 so far, 2 more to go. 

Plans for the 4th? We have friends coming over for late lunch/early dinner and fireworks that night. We are looking forward to it!

I am 96% I will be making this recipe below for our get together....

Caesar Roasted Red Potatoes

5 to 6 medium red potatoes, cut into wedges

1/2 cup Caesar salad dressing

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Place potatoes on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave potatoes on high 8 to 12 minutes, until tender.

Transfer to a greased 13x9 baking dish, Bake 15 minutes. Toss with dressing and green onions. Top with cheese. Return to oven 3 to 5 minutes to melt cheese. 

Dig in! 

Apple Streusel Cinnamon Roll Pizza

Happy Father's Day! (To the dad's I have reading my blog?)

We went to breakfast this morning at Mimi's Cafe. YUMMY breakfast. After, we took the boys to the park, it was Luke's first time so we didn't stay too long. It's wayyyyy tooooo hot for babies to be out too long in the sun in Florida. 

On a sad note, I broke my camera 2 weeks ago during Cooper's end of the year party at school. I don't even know how I did it. I had the wrist strap around my wrist and bam...on the hard floor..lense out. Jammed. My mom is sending me hers to use until we can buy a new one, I am so sad! I loved that camera and plan on buying the same one. 

NOW, onto the food....

This was super-easy, like a 10 minute dessert, depending on how long it takes you to peel and chop apples. 

Apple Streusel Cinnamon Roll Pizza

2 medium golden delicious apples

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

1 (13 oz can, 8 rolls) cinnamon rolls with icing

1 cup granola ( I used vanilla honey)

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with foil or lightly spray a stick free cookie sheet with cooking spray. 

Dice apples and mix with cinnamon sugar. 

Open can of cinnamon rolls and DO NOT DIVIDE. Unroll entire roll onto baking sheet and press out to form a 9x13 crust. Sprinkle apples over crust and bake 7 minutes until edges are golden. 

Top with granola. Return to oven 6 to 7 minutes, until center is golden. 

Place container of icing without lid on microwave safe plate and microwave 20 to 30 seconds, until hot enough to drizzle over pizza. Drizzle over pizza, cut into squares, and serve!

Dig in!

Apple-Walnut Crescent Rolls

Apple-Walnut Crescent Rolls


2 packs refrigerated crescent rolls
2 Granny Smith or other tart, medium apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350.

Dice apples and toss with cinnamon, sugar and butter.

Unroll crescent rolls into triangles and fill with 1 to 2 tablespoons of apple filling. Close in apples to form pockets. (They will not resemble regular crescent roll crescent shapes).

Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.


Dig in!

My oh My...It's Lentil Frito Taco Pie!

I have always been a big fan of the homemade taco salad. We had Old El Paso Tacos on a regular basis in y childhood. I always crumbled mine to make a salad...

It's hard to find a good replacement for real ground beef in a taco salad. I am not a big fan of TVP (texturized vegetable protein), even though it's the easiest to use and comes frozen already crumbled for about 4 bucks. Our current fav beef substitute is the Quorn brand crumbles. Quorn is made with fungus, like mushrooms. Sounds gross, but it's magically delicious. They're fake chicken is the closest I've ever come to chicken without actually eating chicken. 

Anyway. Lentils are another good substitute for beef in tacoy things. Good for you. Filling. Easy to cook. 

Like the recipe below....

Lentil Frito Taco Pie

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and picked over

2 cups salsa

1 pack taco seasoning

Corn chips

Taco toppings (lettuce, tomato, more salsa, sour cream, cheese, olives etc)

Place lentils in a saucepan with 2 to 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer, covered, 25-35 minutes, until tender. Drain and return to pan. 

Stir in salsa and taco seasoning. Simmer 5 minutes to heat through. 

Serve lentils over corn chips and topped with taco toppings. 

Dig in!

Asparagus, Tomato and Egg Salad

I know other bloggers always have something interesting to post about before they put up their purty pictures with their recipes....but I do not really get the 'purty pictures' others get and my life consists of sitting in a recliner and caring for small children at the moment. Kevin and I are going on a Dolphin Cruise for a good friend's bday this weekend....so I look forward to that....

The salad below was very satisfying. And easy. You may have to reduce the roasting time if you have itty bitty skinny asparagus, just keep an eye on it. 

Asparagus, Tomato and Egg Salad

1 pound asparagus spears

6 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced into eighths

Vinaigrette 

Preheat oven to 400. 

Break of woody ends of asparagus and line up on baking sheet. Drizzle spears with olive oil and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Cool. When cool enough to touch, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces. 

Combine asparagus, eggs and tomatoes in a bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to coat. 

Dig in!

Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Spread

Hope the Mommy's out there had a good Mother's Day! We had Olive Garden to go...it was delicious. I love some carbs! I picked out my own present, a while bunch of my favorite lotion Au Lait. Cooper picked me out a super-cute owl and a nice card. I spent most of the day watching DVDs and painting my nails on our bed. Ah...a day without too much childcare, is it sad that's all I really want for Mother's Day? :)

NOW...this recipe...

Yummmmm....

A smooth, spicy and healthy spread for pita or a dip for chips. We had it on pita that night for dinner and I sampled some later on tortilla chips. I recommend both ways. 

Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Spread

2 cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Pinch of salt

Half a block of cream cheese (4 ozs), softened and cubed

1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Salt to taste

Pita bread for serving

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Chill 1 hour before serving. 

Dig in!

Cake Mix Hack: Streusel Muffins

It's a rainy day and I am watching Dexter while the boys nap....

It's still funny to say 'the boys'. I have more than 1 child now!

This is my latest cake mix hack, you can find the others in my recipe archive up top. Ya  ya ya yummy!

Streusel Muffins

1 spice cake mix

1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs

3 eggs

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. 

Combine cake mix, graham cracker crumbs, eggs, oil, and water. Mix until blended on medium for 2 minutes. Divide into 24 paper lined or pan sprayed muffin cups. 

Combine butter, brown sugar and walnuts to make crumb topping. Crumble over each muffin. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until set. 

Cool for 5 minutes in pan before transferring to a cooling rack. 

Dig in!